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Finn Calander is an amateur photographer living in Uppsala, Sweden. His main interest is street photography, mostly shooting in black and white. www.sawantphotography.com
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he photographs in the Snapshots book were taken during a three week stay in California in spring 2014. They are street photographs, shot “on the fly” while walking the streets, visiting cafés, bars and restaurants. A photographic note-book of impressions, scribbled down on a memory card inside a Leica M Monochrom. The images are presented along an associative red thread, winding through the pages. To me photographs in black and white are more real representations of Reality, than color photography. Monochrome images get to the core of matters, without the distraction of color. Where nothing else is stated, quotes are from Allen Ginsberg’s poem The Ballad of (American) Skeletons, first published in 1995.
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Diner 03/24/2014 8:22 am / Hillcrest, San Diego
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Diner 03/26/2014 09:21 am / San Diego
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Palm Trees 04/09/2014 12:01 pm / San Fransisco
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School Yard 04/04/2014 10:10 am / San Fransisco
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Time 03/29/2014 6:10 pm / The Getty Centre, Los Angeles
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The Getty Centre 03/29/2014 3:37 pm / Los Angeles
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The Getty Centre 03/29/2014 04:30 pm / Los Angeles
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Hang Gliding 03/25/2014 2:26 pm / La Jolla
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Bus Stop 03/27/2014 2:20 pm / Los Angeles
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Said the Buddha skeleton Compassion is wealth Said the Corporate skeleton It’s bad for your health
Businessmen 03/27/2014 2:18 am / Pasadena
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Said the Neo-Conservative skeleton Homeless off the street! Said the Free Market skeleton Use ’em up for meat
Ecce Homo 04/11/2014 12:25 pm / San Fransisco
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Woman in Automobile 04/02/2014 4:22 pm / Monterey
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Street Kitchen 04/02/2014 3:45 pm / Monterey
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Safety 1st 04/02/2014 04:11 pm / Monterey
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Lunch Break 04/10/2014 02:24 pm / The Mission, San Fransisco
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The BAM Lady 03/23/2014 12:13 pm / San Diego
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Out of the Frame 04/09/2014 10:22 am / San Fransisco
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Pidgeon at Macy’s Cheescake Factory 04/08/2014 3:57 pm / San Fransisco (iPhone 5s)
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Pidgeons in Alleyway 04/10/2014 1:21 pm / The Mission, San Fransisco
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(Pepsi’s) Angels and (da Vinci’s) Demons 03/26/2014 6:00 pm / Los Angeles
LA is the loneliest and most brutal of American cities; NY gets god-awful cold in the winter but there’s a feeling of wacky comradeship somewhere in some streets. LA is a jungle. Jack Kerouac (On the Road)
On the Metro 03/26/2014 6:57 pm / Los Angeles
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Homeward Bound 03/26/2014 5:27 pm / Los Angeles
Man with Suitcase 03/26/2014 5:41 pm / Los Angeles
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Parking Lot 03/26/2014 5:39 pm / Los Angeles
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Billboard 04/10/2014 12:15 pm / The Mission, San Fransisco
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Man with Shopping Bag 03/26/2014 5:20 pm / Los Angeles
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Little Princess 03/23/2014 1:08 pm / San Diego
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Boy in Patterned Shirt 03/23/2014 12:38 pm / San Diego
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Man Carrying Child 04/12/2014 12:23 pm / San Fransisco
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Woman Carrying Dog 04/10/2014 3:36 pm / San Fransisco
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Shadows, Dog and Legs 04/11/2014 3:01 pm / San Fransisco
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Dog’s Tail and Shadow Man 03/26/2014 5:02 pm / Los Angeles
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The Breakfast Table 04/04/2014 09:57 am / Point Arena
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It seemed like a matter of minutes when we began rolling in the foothills before Oakland and suddenly reached a height and saw stretched out of us the fabulous white city of San Francisco on her eleven mystic hills with the blue Pacific and its advancing wall of potato-patch fog beyond, and smoke and goldenness in the late afternoon of time. Jack Kerouac (On the Road)
Beauty Spot 04/09/2014 1:02 pm / San Fransisco
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Jehovah’s Witnesses 04/09/2014 11:27 am / San Fransisco
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Stogies Cigars and Pipes 04/09/2014 11:44 am / San Fransisco
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Bus Stop 04/12/2014 12:25 pm / San Fransisco
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Street Worker 04/09/2014 5:34 pm / San Fransisco
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Street Meal 04/09/2014 7:11 pm / San Fransisco
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Street Vendor with Child 04/08/2014 5:01 pm / San Fransisco
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Two Ladies 04/08/2014 3:19 pm / Chinatown, San Fransisco
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Morning Light 04/09/2014 9:04 am / Chinatown, San Fransisco
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Faces 04/09/2014 9:06 am / Chinatown, San Fransisco
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Mother & Daughter 03/25/2014 03:19 pm / La Jolla
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Lunch Break 04/10/2014 11:52 am / The Mission, San Fransisco
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Local Crew 04/10/2014 02:23 pm / The Mission, San Fransisco
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Hard Hats’ Lunch 04/10/2014 03:58 pm / San Fransisco
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Selfie 04/10/2014 04:03 pm / The Mission, San Fransisco
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Young Girls 03/25/2014 2:19 pm / La Jolla
Young Boy 04/25/2014 3:15 am / La Jolla
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Snapshot 03/25/2014 5:33 pm / La Jolla
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Seals 03/25/2014 3:27 pm / La Jolla
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Black Hogg Bar 03/29/2014 7:29 pm / Silverlake, Los Angeles
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Lunch at Fisherman’s Wharf 04/12/2014 12:29 pm / San Fransisco
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Concrete Rest 03/29/2014 2:56 pm / Los Angeles
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Woman with Dog & Cell Phone 03/26/2014 4:51 pm / Los Angeles
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Buddhas 03/28/2014 4:18 pm / Venice
Said the Right-to-Life skeleton Foetus has a soul Said Pro Choice skeleton Shove it up your hole
Babies at the Farmers’ Market 03/23/2014 1:04 pm / San Diego
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Baby Björn at the Farmers’ Market 03/23/2014 12:55 am / San Diego
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Whale Watching 03/23/2014 2:30 pm / San Diego (Nikon D300)
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Sidewalk 04/10/2014 11:05 am / San Fransisco
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Lori’s Diner 04/09/2014 1:49 pm / San Fransisco
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The Fat Boy on the Tram 04/09/2014 01:41 pm / San Fransisco
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Cherin’s Parking 04/10/2014 12:30 pm / The Mission, San Fransisco
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Breakfast Time 03/24/2014 8:14 pm / Hillcrest, San Diego
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Breakfast 04/10/2014 9:12 am / San Fransisco
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The No 5 Bus 04/09/2014 4:02 pm / San Fransisco
The Metro 03/26/2014 6:33 pm / Los Angeles
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Woman with Shades and Drink 03/28/2014 2:34 pm / Venice
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Sun Glare and Shades 03/26/2014 4:42 pm / Los Angeles
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Banana Republic 04/11/2014 1:21 pm 140 / Height Ashbury, San Fransisco
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ATM 04/10/2014 3:12 pm / San Fransisco
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Evening Coffee 03/31/2014 8:20 pm / Santa Barbara
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Afternoon Snack 04/11/2014 1:14 pm / San Fransisco
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Pizzeria Delfina 04/10/2014 1:18 pm / The Mission, San Fransisco
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Said the Downsized skeleton Robots got my job Said the Tough-on-Crime skeleton Tear gas the mob
Sidewalk 04/09/2014 10:03 am / San Fransisco
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Sidewalk 04/10/2014 11:45 am / The Mission, San Fransisco
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Starbucks 03/23/2014 07:18 pm / San Diego
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Said the Ecologic skeleton Keep Skies blue Said the Multinational skeleton What’s it worth to you?
Gas Station 03/26/2014 10:36 pm / Pasadena
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Fog 04/09/2014 7:53 pm / San Fransisco
Are you a lucky little lady in the City of Light Or just another lost angel? City of Night, City of Night, City of Night, City of Night, whoa, c’mon (The Doors)
L’Amour Spa & Massage 04/10/2014 7:51 pm / San Fransisco
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Li Po Cocktail Lounge 04/09/2014 07:44 pm / Chinatown, San Fransisco
Said the Think Tank skeleton Free Market’s the way Said the Saving & Loan skeleton Make the State pay
Market Street 04/11/2014 9:42 pm / San Fransisco
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As far as I’m concerned the only thing to do is sit in a room and get drunk Jack Kerouac
The Rex Hotel Bar 04/09/2014 8:36 pm / San Fransisco
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Waitress 04/04/2014 8:38 pm / Shelter Cove
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Bar 03/31/2014 6:08 pm / Santa Barbara
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Coffee Bar 03/31/2014 8:25 pm / Santa Barbara
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Bus Stop 04/09/2014 8:11 pm / San Fransisco
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Evening Crowd I 04/12/2014 9:50 pm / San Fransisco
Said the Junkie skeleton Can’t we get a fix? Said the Big Brother skeleton Jail the dirty pricks
Beneath the Freeway 04/10/2014 3:34 pm / San Fransisco
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Stalker 03/27/2014 11:51 pm / Pasadena (iPhone 5s)
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Couple 04/01/2014 8:46 pm / Santa Barbara
Said the Macho skeleton Women in their place Said the Fundamentalist skeleton Increase human race
Couple 04/08/2014 7:22 pm / San Fransisco
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Said the NAFTA skeleton Get rich, Free Trade, Said the Maquiladora skeleton Sweat shops, low paid
Delivery 04/12/2014 9:48 pm / San Fransisco
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Phones 04/09/2014 08:06 pm / San Fransisco
Title image: La Jolla Images to the right: Fort Bragg shot with iPhone 5s No image in the book has been manipulated. Most are shown full frame, some have been slightly cropped in postproduction. Camera: Leica M Monochrom + Summicron-M 35 mm f : 2.0 ASPH if not otherwise stated. Fonts: Bodoni Old (title) & Helvetica Neue Book design: Finn Calander Thanks to: Måns Hansson for critical feedback on image selection and advice on design matters. (All bad choices and misstakes, however, are entierly made by the author.) Staffan Lövgren for inspiring discussions on photography and art. Eskil & Maria for excellent guiding, for fixing restaurant bookings, and being great company in San Diego, Los Angeles and Pasadena. Lena, for being the best travel planner ever, for being a great sport all along the tour, and for your patience with me photographing on the streets.
© 2014 Finn Calander w w w.sawantphotography.com